The “Molten Sea”, or Is It? 103 dynasty’s peace and prosperity (6). In a similar vein, the recitation of Yahweh’s cosmic victories over the Sea, symbolized by the huge basin in the Temple, would have reminded the audience of the divine power and presence, ensuring the security and stability of the Davidic dynasty as indicated in one of the so-called enthronement psalms: “I will set his [the king’s] hand upon the sea, his right hand upon the rivers” (Ps 89,26 [E 25]) (7). The visual image of the great amount of water contained in the reservoir may also have evoked the notion of the restrained and subdued power of the Sea. Therefore, the role of the basin often deemed obscure emerges as pivotal. A prominent ritual formula in these psalms is hwhy ˚lm or ˚lm hwhy “Yahweh has become king” (8). I suggest that qxwm µyh should be seen as one such cultic proclamation declared during the New Year festival and should be translated “The Sea has been constrained!” Department of Near Eastern Studies Seung Il KANG The Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD 21163 — USA SUMMARY Contrary to the conventional rendering of qxwm µyh (1 Kgs 7, 23), the name of the huge water basin in the Solomonic Temple, as the “Molten Sea”, the author suggests that qxwm µyh should be seen as one of the cultic proclamations declared during the New Year festival and should be translated “The Sea has been constrained!” (6) It is telling that Tiamat could represent mat tâmti “the land of Tâmti”, the main opponent of Babylon in the early second millennium B.C.E. T. JACOBSEN, “Religious Drama in Ancient Mesopotamia”, Unity and Diversity. Essays in the History, Literature, and Religion of the Ancient Near East (eds. H. GOEDICKE – J.J.M. ROBERTS) (Baltimore 1975) 76. (7) MEYERS, “Sea, Molten”, 1062; E. BLOCH-SMITH, “Solomon’s Temple: The Politics of Ritual Space”, Sacred Time, Sacred Space. Archaeology and the Religion of Israel (ed. B.M. GITTLEN) (Winona Lake 2002) 84. (8) So translates Mowinckel, as opposed to “Yahweh reigns” or “It is Yahweh who is king”. See ROBERTS, “Mowinckel’s Enthronement Festival”, 105-108.